Lost and Found
by StreetlightDawn
Summary: The Sumeragi twin's first apartment was still inhabited when they first moved in.


The Sumeragi twin's first apartment was still inhabited when they moved in. Subaru sensed its presence immediately, but Hokuto was the first to catch a glimpse of their occupant.

Subaru found his sister one morning kneeling on the floor, her face pressed up against the wall next to the kitchen sink. She was calling "here kitty kitty!" and tapping her fingernails lightly on the molding.

"So it _is_ a cat?" he asked, suspicions confirmed.

"Uh-huh!" Hokuto bounded up from her position. "I was just unpacking some boxes when I saw it walk through the living room. It stopped for a bath," and here Hokuto mimicked the cat by swiping a hand over her face, "and then it walked straight through that wall."

It was apparent upon close examination that the wall next to the sink had been repaired at some point in the past. A rectangle section near the floor was smoother and whiter than the rest of the wall, indicating that the drywall had been replaced and repainted.

"How do you suppose it got trapped back there?" she asked, her hand splayed flat against the surface.

Subaru quirked his lips ruefully. "Maybe they had to open up the wall to fix the electrical wiring or the plumbing." He, too, placed his gloved hand against the wall. "It must've been curious and jumped in when no one was looking. Its owners probably didn't realize it was inside when they closed it up." He didn't elaborate on the obvious cause of death, knowing they were both envisioning its horrible final moments.

"Poor thing," Hokuto murmured for the departed, yet still present cat. And then, incongruously, she sniffed at the wall. "At least it's past the point of stinking."

Subaru wilted at her lack of compassion. "I guess I should send it on its way."

It took some time to find the box of accoutrements for his altar. Every box he opened was stuffed full of Hokuto's clothes, billowing up and out like yeast when the flaps were pulled back. Once he located the necessary items, he lit some incense and began to meditate. It didn't take long for the cat to make its presence known. Subaru could see it sitting over by the kitchen sink, licking a translucent paw and regarding him with a patient stare.

_It's time to move on, _he urged. More like pictured. The spirits of animals didn't comprehend language the same way that humans did. Rather, they understood the concepts that were associated with particular words. "Food" meant nothing unless it was accompanied by a bowl of kibble. Subaru tried to impress upon the cat the idea of "moving on", imagining the cat leaving the apartment and heading towards the bright lights of the other side that Subaru knew beckoned to every spirit.

The cat responded with a mental impression of its own; a brief image of a girl with a red bow in her hair. Then, with a non-vocal meow, it turned and disappeared into the wall.

Subaru came out of his meditation to find Hokuto storming about the room, picking up her clothes strewn about the room from unpacking. She turned on him with a huff, obviously irritated with his disrespectful treatment of her wardrobe. He shrank in on himself and Hokuto took his flustered blush as apology. "So what did the cat say?" she asked, smoothing out a tulle skirt.

"Meow," Subaru answered absently, looking over towards the kitchen. He was distracted picturing the mess that tearing down the wall would cause. "I'm going to have to lay its remains to rest. I think it's the only way it will be at peace."

Ever the courteous tenant, Subaru went to the landlord to explain the problem, who was surprisingly understanding of the whole situation. He knew of the cat, thanks to sightings by former renters. He also knew who its owner was, a young girl who had posted fliers everywhere when the animal had gone missing. But that was over ten years ago, back when the apartment complex allowed pets (but not anymore so don't get any ideas, the landlord reminded emphatically). Subaru thanked him profusely for permitting them to knock down the kitchen wall, promising that they would patch it up better than ever. The landlord shrugged obligingly, agreeable only as long as he wasn't responsible for the repairs.

While Subaru sought permission, Hokuto roped Seishirou into helping demolish and repair the drywall. She reasoned that he couldn't very well expect to marry her brother if he couldn't even do the most basic of home improvements. He had to prove his worth, right?! Seishirou was more than willing to rise to the challenge. ("Anything for Subaru-kun!" his voice had rang through the phone and around the apartment.)

On the day of the excavation, Seishirou showed up at the twin's place wearing "working" clothes that looked to be brand new, bought for the express purpose of being "working clothes". He brought along a slew of tools, also looking as though they had never before been used, and a giant square of new drywall to replace the one they were about to wreck. Hokuto had dressed up for the occasion as well, wearing a dress made of a silver gauzy material. She had also fashioned a scarf out of it, stretching the fabric taut between two wires which she then looped around herself like wisps of smoke. A set of cat ears topped off the ensemble.

"I'm the ghost cat!" she had explained when Seishirou complimented her outfit.

"You look nice as well," Seishirou smiled at Subaru, who promptly turned a radiant shade of red. Since he was the one delving into the wall for the remains, he was wearing plain old jeans and t-shirt. However, Hokuto had insisted on him wearing a collar to fit the cat theme. It even had a little bell. Her fervent tone had brooked no argument.

Together, with Subaru jingling every step of the way, they convened in the kitchen. Seishirou felt around the wall next to the sink, knocking every few inches to locate the studs. When he had a clear shot, he took a few swings with a tiny mallet. The wall caved in easily, exposing the wooden skeleton of the building beneath.

Equipped with a small flashlight and a blanket tucked under his arm, Subaru squirmed into the hole. The space inside was extremely narrow and he quickly found himself coming up against the other side, his lower body still jutting out into the kitchen. Subaru could hear Hokuto and Seishirou snickering behind him, most likely at the view of him bent over in such a vulnerable position. Face burning, he tried to arrange himself in a more conservative pose, but it only resulted in a lot of wriggling, violent bell-jingling, and more snickering, which was more like outright cackling at this point. Giving it up as a lost cause, Subaru heaved a preserving sigh and turned to look for the cat, hoping it had not gone too far deep into the wall where he couldn't crawl.

The search would have been over a lot quicker, but Subaru kept passing over the remains, taking the carcass to be another thick patch of dust, which was carpeted everywhere. Finally, the cat itself stepped in to help. It glided through the wall that the refrigerator stood against and coolly walked over to sit upon its body. By the light of its incorporeal form, Subaru could better see the form of what used to be a cat. He could make out the skull solely by a few exposed teeth. The rest was just musty, matted fur. The ghost cat merely twitched its tail, but Subaru could sense an aura of triumph, as though it were exclaiming, "you found me!"

"I did find you," Subaru confirmed with a smile. "I'm going to take care of you so you won't have to be stuck back here anymore." It was tough to translate into mental pictures so the cat would understand. _Subaru taking body from the wall. Saying a prayer over its body as it was interred. The spirit free to leave the apartment. Free to go into the light. _

The cat set to licking its paw furiously for a few moments and Subaru was worried that it hadn't understood him at all. He was about to try reasoning with it again when the cat flashed him with the same image of a girl with a red bow. There was something of a question underlying the impression this time, and Subaru finally grasped what the cat was wondering.

"Ah, your owner, right?" The cat was motionless. "I'm sorry, but she's not here anymore." _Empty apartment. Gone_.

The cat looked off into the dark spaces around it, as though it wasn't hearing Subaru, the perfect illusion of indifference. Subaru knew otherwise; the poor thing felt lost.

"She did try to find you, she went looking everywhere," Subaru reassured. _Missing cat fliers posted all over the complex. _"She missed you. But she had to move on and she would want you to do the same." _Other side. Bright light. _"One day, she'll pass on too. You can be waiting for her there." _Girl with the red bow in her hair._

At that last phrase, the cat tensed up, ears forward and eyes wide. It was as though something had startled it, hooked its attention all of a sudden. Subaru could guess at what was beckoning the cat.

"Go on, we'll take care of you here." The words were barely said before the cat sprang off into the wall, shedding mist as it leapt. Subaru could sense it running off through the apartment walls, running off over the balcony, running through the sky, bright light, and then gone.

Subaru dropped the blanket from his arms and unfurled it. He pulled the body towards him gently for fear of its disintegration. He managed to get it onto the blanket whereupon he carefully wrapped the cat up.

"Did you find it?" Hokuto called from behind him.

"Yes, I'm coming out now." Hokuto and Seishirou each took hold of a leg and dragged him out, his package carefully tugged along in the cradle of his arms.

Back in the kitchen, Subaru was horrified to find that Hokuto had drawn all over the fresh slab of drywall with green marker. She had doodled a giant smiling cat, two fangs poking out of its grin. It towered over three small stick figures: a stick Seishirou in glasses carrying a blushing stick Subaru over his head. Stick Hokuto stood behind them laughing, a stream of 'ohoho's coursing up from her mouth. "I was bored!" she protested at Subaru's groans. "Besides, we're going to paint over it, you won't even see it!"

While Seishirou began the patch up process and Hokuto made some lemonade, Subaru recounted his conversation with the cat.

"You mean, it just wanted its owner to come and find it?" Hokuto asked, handing a cold glass to Subaru.

"That's not too hard to understand," Seishirou said as he flipped through his How-To Fix-It! Handbook. "Pets and their owners can have a very tight bond. Surely the cat wanted to know that it's owner hadn't simply abandoned it."

"Obviously it wasn't that tight of a bond if it hung around for ten years wondering if it was missed," Hokuto mused, glancing over at the small blanketed bundle in the corner. After the repairs, they were going to take the cat to Seishirou's veterinary clinic. He had a connection with a crematorium that dealt specifically with deceased pets.

"Subaru!" she barked suddenly, causing her twin to throw half his lemonade upon himself. "If it were me who had gotten stuck behind a wall, you can bet I wouldn't stick around waiting for one of you guys to come and find me! I'd be off having the time of my afterlife! I don't need to know that you're grieving and moping over me!" Somehow in the fervor of her impromptu speech, Hokuto ended up standing on the kitchen counter.

"H-Hokuto-chan, keep it down" Subaru pleaded. "You'll disturb the neighbors."

"We knocked down a wall, they're already disturbed!"

Seishirou interrupted through a mouthful of screws. "I think what Hokuto-chan is saying is that the two of you are so close that she would never wonder if you had forgotten her or not. She knows it would be impossible for you."

"Exactly, Sei-chan!" Hokuto said, jumping down to ensnare Subaru in a one-armed hug. "So if I ever go missing like Mr. Cat, I won't expect you to come looking for me. You don't have to prove yourself to me," she said, poking Subaru in the nose.

"O-okay," Subaru said placatingly. He had long since learned that it was easier just to agree with his sister.

For his first time doing drywall repair, Seishirou did a very good job. The line between the patch and the rest of the wall was barely noticeable. However, no matter how many coats of paint they applied, parts of Hokuto's green drawing kept bleeding through the white. Subaru tried not to have a heart attack about it. The figures of him and Seishirou had been erased along with most of the giant cat. All that was noticeable, aside from a disembodied tail, was the faint outline of Hokuto engaged in silent laughter. But even then, he really had to look in order to find her.


End file.
